I just had concrete floor poured in my basement and would like to protect it. My plan is to move my tools and other car parts down there and use it as a workshop since I don't have a garage. I've look into those garage floor epoxy kits but they are twice the price of the regular floor paint. I'd like to save money but i'm pretty sure epoxy is the way to go. What have you guys used and what would you recommend?
A few thoughts here
First, you need to let the concrete cure for a while. Probably a couple of months.
Second, don't cheap out on floor paint. If it begins to lift, it won't come up all at once. It will break off into millions of tiny flakes over the course of 20 years.
If you just want to keep the dust down, I've heard good things about Thompson's Water Seal.
Whatever you choose, if it's flammable, make sure it's very well vented before your furnace kicks on. And if it is, you should only use something with vapors lighter than air so it doesn't pool in the basement.
Protect it from what? Its concrete. I have not yet found a product that improves on basic concrete, but it seems I am the only guy. Everybody else seems to want to repaint their floor annually...
Seeing that you're in MA, I doubt any type of floor paint would hold up, unless they did an exceptional job of making sure there's no water under it.
What about doing a concrete polish? It works for the big box stores. I have had it spec'ed out in a couple offices as well. The have a chemical they add before polishing the make the concrete resistant to oil and fluids. May be a little more, but last much longer.
rubber floor tiles? Standing on Concrete SUCKS. Been there, done that. Even just the acoustic tiles will make a BIG difference
Go to garagejournal.com and look in the flooring section. Lots of info there, do a search. Several vendors will respond and they offer higher quality stuff than the big box kits.
I did epoxy in our basement laundry room and it has held up great. We do have a VERY dry basement though, so I didn't have to worry about water issues.
This is before I painted the walls:
Both of the houses I've owned had the HD generic floor epoxy applied. Both of them have a lot of problems with lifting. Mostly hot tire pick up, so probably not an issue for you. I also have no idea if they prepped properly before application. I imagine some virgin concrete would be the ideal surface to use it on.
I would paint it but I did use a cheap concrete sealer on my old basement floor and it did help as far as keeping the dust down and making it easier to sweep up. Since the floor is new, paint it with the best you can afford.
mad_machine wrote: rubber floor tiles? Standing on Concrete SUCKS. Been there, done that. Even just the acoustic tiles will make a BIG difference
This. Search "garage floor tiles". There are definately ones that can be had for under $2/ sq ft.
Basement floor has been perfectly dry the 3 years I’ve been here and I live in the highest part of my neighborhood. Only water issue I’ve had was when the downspout from the gutter was not connected and that was still minor. I plan on letting the floor cure for a month or 2 before coating it but want to have a plan in place for when the time comes. Might even wait till spring incase whatever product I find is flammable so that the furnace is not running and I can open some windows to vent it out. Didn’t even think of that problem till Woody mentioned it. I like the tiles but the basement is over 750 sq/ft. I might coat the floor then do a small section of tiles in front of the work bench.
I vote for whatever the battleship gray stuff they use in machine shops is.
I've used the Behr kit with good results. I didn't add the "confetti" to it. It's a 2 part coating and it doesn't smell at all. Cleans up with water before it cures.
$105/kit cdn and I did my basement floor with 2 kits. Not a big basement, but I imagine it's close in size to a decent 2 car garage.
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